External Links on a Front Page

[marcelo-275398]

Does anyone have any links to information about external links on a front page ?

I am advising a client that this is not the best idea and that they could be put in a different place but can't find any proof of this.

[StalkerB]

That's quite a vague issue

What are your concerns about having external links on the homepage? Preserving link juice?

[marcelo-275398]

Hi Barry, glad to see you responding to another one of my questions. I know I am in safe hands !

Preserving link juice yes, I am not sure if my thinking on this matter is now a bit dated, but surely wanting 5 external links on a front page cannot be good.

[StalkerB]

Thank you, but never blindly trust anyone on here Make sure what I'm saying makes sense!

I wouldn't necessarily say it was bad, but I see your concern.

Your homepage is (almost) always going to be the strongest page on your site. Each link added dilutes the value of the other links on the page.

While this post deals with nofollowing links, it highlights how link juice is passed by linking - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/google-maybe-changes-how-the-pagerank-algorithm-handles-nofollow

Effectively you'd be giving away some of the most powerful links you can control to other people, presumably in the same sector. So for that reason, if you have to link to them and can do so elsewhere then do that instead.

This the sort of thing you were looking for?

[marcelo-275398]

Thanks Barry, this is exactly what I was looking for and it does make sense. I decided not to no follow them as I didn't want decay and I considered the point about links in the same niche, however these arent related to what the site is about.

Thanks again.

[StalkerB]

Well, another concern if they're completely unrelated links is that they may look like paid links which you could even be penalised for.